Remeber me?
by wintersiris
Summary: Short vignette, one shot, of Tatsuki and her relationship with Ichigo. Tatsuki POV


A very short vignette about Tatsuki. I actually hate Ichiruki because the fans have scared me off, and many of them are just rabid and nasty, but for the sake of this story...it exists . I actually find Tatsuki's relationship with Ichigo more interesting than Rukia's and Orihime's, as much as I love Hime and as much as I like Rukia, romance between her and Ichigo is generic and boring. Orihime and Ichigo is sad, but follows the similar forumula of unrequited loved. Ichigo and Tatsuki...a broken friendship, where one cares more about the other, and tries her best to make it work, but Ichigo seems to have 'forgotten' about her, to say the least in some respects.

Remember me?

This takes place after the time skip, right where Bleach is now, after FB arc

Tatsuki sighed and looked out the window from the school. She saw Ichigo run off again, except now she knew what he was doing.

Thinking back, he seemed a lot happier than usual. For her, it was easy to tell his moods based on his expressions and what he said, but this time, she didn't know why he seemed to be more elated. She was lost in her thoughts when Orihime entered the room. "Hi, Tatsuki-chan," she said quietly, sitting down beside her friend. Tatsuki, a bit surprised, looked up and smiled.

"Oh, hey Orihime." Tatsuki said, coming out of her reverie. She then looked at Orihime's face to see that her eyes were a bit red. "Hey, are you ok?"

Orihime gave her a weak smile, "Could I...talk to you about something later?" Tatsuki nodded, and then looked back out the window, wondering if it had something to do with Ichigo.

Sometime after school, Tatsuki arrived at Orihime's apartment. Orihime opened the door and smiled as she let her in. "Did you know Kuchiki-san has come back for awhile?" Tatsuki thought back, and then remembered hearing Ichigo saying something about Kuchiki-san.

"I wasn't really aware of it," Tatsuki said, already having an idea of where the issue was stemming from. Tatsuki didn't really have an opinion on Rukia, since they didn't interact a lot, but as far as she was concerned, anyone who hurt Orihime got their butt kicked.

"He just seems so much happier when she's around. I know he must have missed her when she was gone, I did too, but..." Orihime could feel tears welling up in her eyes, "I can't help but feel this way...I'm jealous of how she's so easily able to make Kurosaki-kun happy. She's such an amazing person and friend, and I don't want to feel like this..."

Tatsuki looked at Orihime and nodded. Somewhere deep down, she understood too. She remembered seeing that beautiful shinigami woman, and realized that Ichigo associated with people like her. It make her heart twinge a little, but she would never let anyone know. Especially not since the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Orihime, her best friend.

"That idiot," Tatsuki muttered, "but don't let it get to you, Orihime. You're important to him too. He's just like that because he hasn't seen her in awhile," and added quietly, "but still couldn't he be a bit more subtle about it?"

Orihime gave Tatsuki a small smile, and then hugged her. "Thank you, Tatsuki-chan. I'm glad I can talk to you about these things. I'm glad you're here for me, but don't forget I'm here for you too!" Tatsuki smiled and hugged Orihime back. Yes, Tatsuki knew that. Orihime was her best friend, but even Tatsuki knew there was one thing she couldn't say to Orihime: how she truly felt about Ichigo.

The next day, Tatsuki dropped by Ichigo's house and knocked on his door. She was about to knock for the third time when she heard Rukia yell, "You idiot!" and then a loud thud. She sighed and then heard the door open, with Isshin standing there.

"If it isn't Tatsuki-chan!" He said with a grin. "That idiot son of mine is upstairs," he said, pointing at the staircase.

Tatsuki nodded and knocked on his door. It was pretty loud in his room, so she just opened it instead, when she saw Rukia angrily yelling at him, blushing. They both stopped and looked at the door. "T-Tatsuki!" Ichigo said, started, and looking rather annoyed at Rukia.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Tatsuki asked, not paying much attention to what was going on between the two.

"Nah," Ichigo said, waving his hand dismissivly at Rukia. Suddenly Rukia's fist collided with Ichigo's face.

She looked at him, looking very annoyed, or angry. "You idiot!" She yelled again, as she walked out of the room.

Ichigo rubbed his face and looked at Tatsuki. "What is her problem?" He muttered, though his face was a bit red as well.

"It seems like you two need to sort things out. I'll be back later, then." She walked downstairs and saw Rukia sitting on the couch, her lips pursed togther, blushing and looking angry. "You go talk to him." Tatsuki muttered, pointing at the stairs as she left.

It wasn't until the next day that the events of yesterday made sense. As Tatsuki was about to walk into school, she heard Rukia's voice, and then Ichigo's.

Rukia sounded upset as she said, "So...I won't be able to come back for awhile, Ichigo. I don't know when I'll be able to see you again." Ichigo looked at Rukia, with a sad look on his face.

"Nah, don't worry about it Rukia. You have more important things to do anyway. If you're done here, you should go back." Clearly, he seemed pained when he said that, Tatsuki noted.

"Is that really how you see it...?" Rukia's voice softened as she looked up at him. Ichigo's gaze locked on to hers as he then abruptly hugged her tightly. Rukia even seem surprised at Ichigo's embrace.

"Rukia, I know I'll see you soon, so...I don't need to say good-bye." Tatsuki felt her heart cringe as she heard that, but then she saw his face move closer to Rukia's, but they didn't kiss. They didn't need to.

Rukia smiled and nodded as she looked at him, "Yeah, I'll see you later, Ichigo." Both of them were blushing as Rukia then opened a senkaimon. Ichigo then looked up when Rukia left to see Tatsuki. "I just arrived..." Tatsuki said, as she walked into the school. It was best Orihime didn't know about this, and herself, Tatsuki wished she never saw it.

"Tatsuki-chan, are you ok?" Orihime asked worriedly at lunch. "You don't seem like yourself." Tatsuki smiled at her. Tatsuki didn't realize that Orihime already knew.

"I'm fine. Just a long day today since I have to go to work at the dojo. That's all."At the end of the day, Tastuki went to her locker and then saw Ichigo walk behind her.

"Tatsuki, about what happ-" She punched him hard in the face, angry tears then falling.

"_Anyone who hurts you gets their butt kicked by me!" Tatsuki said, smiling at Orihime, that one day so many years ago._

But today, Tatsuki didn't do this for Orihime. She did it for herself. She walked away, and turned around after a few steps and looked back at him, "Do you remember me, Ichigo?"

She walked off, leaving him wondering why she punched him. He didn't know, and no one would ever know. Tatsuki did this for herself. It was her closure. She hoped one day, Ichigo would remember her, Arisawa Tatsuki.


End file.
